Dilip Cherian Bloghttp://dilipcherian.in
Cherian's ChoiceTue, 28 Apr 2020 10:39:36 +0000en-US
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1Will Air India get a new CMD?http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1562
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1562#respondTue, 28 Apr 2020 10:39:35 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1562The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet recently approved the empanelment of 28 IAS officers for holding Secretary-level posts at the Centre. Among them is Rajiv Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director of the ailing public carrier Air India which is still looking for a buyer.

Bansal is in his second stint as CMD of the airline, having taken over the reins from Ashwani Lohani in February. However, after the empanelment for secretary-level posts, there is some buzz about Bansal’s future at Air India. The post of Air India’s CMD is an additional secretary-level position, whereas Bansal is now elevated to secretary-level. Does this mean that the airline will soon have a new CMD?

The question is of some import given that the government is still keen to sell off Air India, now delayed by the impact of the COVID-19 virus. Its earlier attempts had failed, but by offering 100 per cent stake, the government is hoping to succeed.

]]>http://dilipcherian.in/?feed=rss2&p=15620No escaping social mediahttp://dilipcherian.in/?p=1555
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1555#respondMon, 16 Mar 2020 12:34:41 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1555Under the ceaseless gaze of social media, it is increasingly difficult for babus to slip under the radar. Nothing escapes its stern scrutiny, as former DGP, Uttar Pradesh, O.P. Singh recently discovered. The former 1983-batch IPS officer has been unwilling to surrender his official bungalow even after retirement. Many others too have done this in the past, including several politicians, as Dilli very well remembers, but Singh’s misfortune was that his reluctance to shed the trappings of his office after retirement caught the attention of social media ‘activists’ and some journalists who took no time to denounce him. Singh has been accused of leading an aristocratic lifestyle and apparently his “arrogant ways”. At least part of the attention being devoted to Singh, now retired, is his alleged proximity to UP chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. It is a fairly well-known fact and may account for the ‘privileges’ Singh continues to enjoy even after hanging up his boots. But veteran babu-watchers in the capital note that Singh’s case is hardly surprising, considering how tough it is for the authorities to get posh bungalows in Lutyens Delhi vacated by VIP squatters, be they netas or babus. Singh is merely following a well-trodden path, cleared by many others before him.
]]>http://dilipcherian.in/?feed=rss2&p=15550No room for dissenthttp://dilipcherian.in/?p=1553
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1553#respondMon, 09 Mar 2020 07:46:19 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1553In a kind of action replay reminiscent of a similar instance in 2010 and also during Modi’s first tenure as PM, the appointment of Sanjay Kothari as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner and Bimal Julka as the new Central Information Commissioner has run into a controversy. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Congress member of the high-powered selection panel, which is headed by the Prime Minister, strongly objected to their appointments. Kothari is Secretary to the President of India while Julka is former information and broadcasting secretary and is currently information commissioner. Chowdhury objected to “glaring infirmities” within the search committee itself. His primary objection was to the presence of Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar in the selection panel when he also was an applicant to the post of CVC! Besides Kumar, the other members of the panel were Cabinet Secretary Rajeev Gauba and DoPT Secretary C Chandramouli. Chowdury’s objections were overruled by a majority decision, but he managed to voice the view that the committee was merely formalizing a decision that had already been taken by Prime Minister Modi.
]]>http://dilipcherian.in/?feed=rss2&p=15530Lit Festivalhttp://dilipcherian.in/?p=1547
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1547#respondFri, 28 Feb 2020 10:35:36 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1547Lit Festival
]]>http://dilipcherian.in/?feed=rss2&p=15470‘Collector’ to be history?http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1538
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1538#respondMon, 24 Feb 2020 09:03:13 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1538Historically, since Warren Hastings introduced collectors for revenue collection in the 18th century, the term ‘collector’ has denoted the state’s power in the hinterlands. Since independence, the role of the District Collector has grown even more significant with multiple powers conferred upon the official under numerous Central and state laws on a wide range of subjects. But the term ‘Collector’ may be on its way out in Madhya Pradesh. The Kamal Nath government has constituted a high-level committee to suggest an alternative for the designation of ‘collector’. It believes that due to the multidimensional regulatory and developmental role of the Collector as the administrative and executive head of the district, a new term is needed for the position. Sources say that I.C.P Keshari, Additional Chief Secretary of Commerce Tax Department heads the three-member committee also comprising Malay Kumar Srivastava, Manish Rastogi and Vishesh Garhpale. Preeti Maithil, the district collector of Sagar, is the member secretary of the committee. The panel has been tasked with giving recommendations after consulting all stakeholders, including members of the public. It will also explore the contours of the jurisdiction of the executive head of the district. The new term will be incorporated in the land revenue code and developmental schemes which state the Collector as the district head. However, the police manual, CrPC and Arms Act remain unchanged which ‘District Magistrate’ as the district head and not ‘Collector’.
]]>http://dilipcherian.in/?feed=rss2&p=15380Foreign training put on holdhttp://dilipcherian.in/?p=1535
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1535#respondMon, 17 Feb 2020 07:32:45 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1535The Modi sarkar is likely to cut down on foreign training of bureaucrats under the Domestic Funding of Foreign Training (DFFT) policy due to the rising cost of sending babus abroad. In 2018-19, the government spent Rs 60 crores on training 332 bureaucrats, which is more than half of the annual training budget of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Under the policy, babus go to top global universities such as Cambridge and Harvard, among others, for long and short-term courses at the government’s expense. Now the DoPT has written to all cadre authorities stating that the DFFT policy will be overhauled, with emphasis on integrated training, getting reputed foreign trainers to India, training lessons through video conferencing and sending fewer babus for foreign training and then getting them to retrain officers in India. Clearly, ‘austerity’ measures such as this indicate that we are in for a spell of belt-tightening in the Modi sarkar.
]]>http://dilipcherian.in/?feed=rss2&p=15350Controversial appointmenthttp://dilipcherian.in/?p=1533
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1533#respondMon, 10 Feb 2020 06:31:59 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1533The appointment of additional director general of police (ADGP) rank police officer O.P. Singh as Principal Secretary of Haryana’s Department of Sports and Youth Affairs has triggered off a turf war, with IAS officers questing the move for being “against civil service rules”. According to sources, Singh is the first IPS officer appointed to this post, which was traditionally held by a senior IAS officer. Not surprisingly, therefore, the appointment has raised the issue of “supremacy” of IAS over IPS officers – a battle that sees no end. Leading the charge of the IAS is none other than whistleblower Ashok Khemka who has reportedly written to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar claiming that Singh’s appointment is “illegal and bad precedent”. According to Khemka, the rules state only a cadre officer can occupy a cadre post. Further, recommendations of civil services board chaired by the chief secretary are mandatory for appointment to an IAS cadre post. Khemka claims that this rule was not followed by the government. And apparently, Singh is not an isolated case. The state government has reportedly posted Rajnish Garg, a DANIPS officer, as state project director of Haryana School Sikhsha Pariyojna Parishad, a post meant for IAS officers. Garg has replaced senior IAS officer Rakesh Gupta. Will the IAS lobby fight back to reclaim their turf?
]]>http://dilipcherian.in/?feed=rss2&p=15330Punjab CM fights to retain top cophttp://dilipcherian.in/?p=1530
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1530#respondMon, 03 Feb 2020 06:58:57 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1530The quashing of the appointment of Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) is a big blow to the state government, though not entirely unexpected. The tribunal also stated that the process followed in Mr Gupta’s appointment in February last year was against the provisions outlined by the Supreme Court. When the Amarinder Singh government appointed Gupta as the state’s top cop, he superseded five officers. Two superseded officers, Mohammad Mustafa and Siddharth Chattopadhyaya then moved CAT to challenge the appointment, which has now struck down Gupta’s appointment. Further, it has called it an act of “favouritism” and “arbitrariness”. The tribunal has now directed the state government to send names of three senior-most officers to the UPSC for the appointment of a new candidate. But sources say, despite this major setback, the state government is determined to protect Gupta. The Chief Minister reportedly told the state assembly that Gupta will continue as DGP. The High Court has now stayed the tribunal’s order after the state government knocked on its door. So, we can expect this ‘fight’ to continue. Watch this space for updates.
]]>http://dilipcherian.in/?feed=rss2&p=15300The CRPF’s new bosshttp://dilipcherian.in/?p=1528
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1528#respondMon, 27 Jan 2020 06:52:27 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1528The appointment of 1984-batch IPS officer A.P. Maheshwari as the new Director-General of the CRPF came as a surprise to some observers. Mr Maheshwari took over from ITBP Director General S.S. Deswal who was holding additional charge of CRPF after the superannuation of its previous DG Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar last month. Mr Maheshwari now heads India’s largest paramilitary force which has 3.25 lakh personnel and leads the country’s anti-Naxal operations and counter-terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir until his superannuation next year. It is his third tenure in CRPF, in which the UP-cadre officer has served in several capacities over a period of nine years. He has served as DG, Bureau of Police Research and Development, and also as Special DG (Operations) in the Border Security Force, besides serving as I.G. (Operations) and I.G. (Srinagar Sector) in CRPF itself. Before this appointment, Mr Maheshwari was serving as Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Which is the odd thing, sources say. According to them, it is unusual for a special secretary to be shifted to operations. The only other reasoning could be that Mr Maheshwari is being rewarded for his service by the establishment.
]]>http://dilipcherian.in/?feed=rss2&p=15280IPS wars in UPhttp://dilipcherian.in/?p=1525
http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1525#respondMon, 13 Jan 2020 07:01:58 +0000http://dilipcherian.in/?p=1525A rather ugly war has broken out in the higher echelons of UP Police. Senior IPS officer and Noida police chief Vaibhav Krishna has alleged murky dealings in the transfer and posting of police officers in the state. In a written complaint to the Director-General of Police and state Home Secretary, Krishna claimed that huge sums of money exchanged hands in the transfer and postings of SHOs and district police chiefs in the state. Expectedly, this has set off a furore among the cops. A few months back the Noida police had arrested three journalists and some others, who, it was alleged, used to facilitate transfers and postings in exchange for huge sums of money. It was also alleged that these ‘journos’ were conduits for some senior police officers. Curiously, Krishna himself has been controversial for some alleged “sex chat” videos that went viral. He has accused IPS officers who bore a grudge against him for trying to tarnish his image. Now the cry has gone out that the Yogi Adityanath government should institute a CBI probe into the transfer-posting racket.
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